at-Largely

Yes, We Do Body Counts

Posted By Cernig

Over at Salon today there's a disturbing story of the kind of hyperkinetic and ultimately harmful counter-insurgency tactics which are being driven by a top-down demand for results in Iraq. The article explores the events surrounding the murder of an Iraqi farmer by a U.S. sniper team and relates it to pressure for body counts by commanders who then walk away untouched by the legal fallout of their subordinates' actions.

A review of thousands of pages of documents from the legal proceedings obtained by Salon shows that in the months prior to [the Iraqi farmer, Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi]’s death, the young snipers, already frustrated by guerrilla tactics, were pressed to their physical limits and pushed by officers to stretch the bounds of the laws of war in order to increase the enemy body count. When the United States wallowed in Vietnam’s counterinsurgency quagmire decades ago, the same pressure placed on soldiers resulted in some of the worst atrocities of that war.[…]

The pressure from above for more bodies was also toxic in Iraq, where the isolated, outnumbered and outgunned snipers of the 1st Battalion had to make split-second life-or-death decisions. When those decisions landed them in a military court, it was the lowest-ranking soldiers, not the brass, who paid the price, and a sergeant who said he was pushed into taking a fatal shot who wound up with a long prison sentence. It was battalion commander Lt. Col Robert Balcavage, who pushed for a higher body count, who initiated the prosecution of three of the battalion’s snipers.

The original article is several pages long and bears reading carefully. Matt Duss at The Wonk Room observes:

I think we’ve seen this “dead bodies=success” mentality bleed out into pro-war blogs as well, where the numbers of insurgent dead are credulously relayed and uncritically reported as progress, irrespective of the collateral damage incurred in those deaths and of the galvanizing effects that this has on support for insurgency. (Of course, if you’re someone who believes that trying not to create more insurgents is irrelevant to the task of counterinsurgency, then no big deal. I suppose one could always apply the Bush Doctrine on the ground in Iraq, and justify the murder of Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi on the theory that he might, one day, have joined the insurgency. But then you’d have to kill his son, and then all his friends, too. Nice war we’ve got going here, huh?)

The murder of Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, and the atmosphere in which it occurred, is reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib abuses. In both cases, a high-pressure environment, hazy rules of engagement, and pressure from above to produce usable intelligence/dead “insurgents” led to atrocity. In both cases, the lowest men down were punished for carrying out the directives of their commanders (and Commander-in-Chief), while those commanders were left untouched.

It appears that the Vietnamization of the military is inevitable whenever the officer corps is decimated by principled junior officers quitting after multiple stressful tours, leaving too many tough guy/big ego/inferiority complex guys in command who are unfit for leading COIN operations. The moral is to not get into wars of choice in the first place, but the damage may take a generation to repair.

Bush Punts The Gitmo Trials

Posted By Cernig

Via Jeralyn at Talk Left comes the news that the Bush administration has punted the entire thorny problem of Gitmo, its detainees and their trails to the next incumbent.

Nearly seven years later, however, not one of the approximately 775 terrorism suspects who have been held on this island has faced a jury trial inside the new complex, and U.S. officials think it is highly unlikely that any of the Sept. 11 suspects will before the Bush administration ends.

Though men such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, are expected to be arraigned in coming months -- appearing publicly for the first time after years of secret detention and harsh interrogations -- officials say it could be a year or longer before worldwide audiences will see even the first piece of evidence or testimony against them.

Jeralyn thinks it likely that any of the three candidates will close Gitmo and then scrap the military tribunals system which has made such a sick joke of American justice in favor of civil trials or trials under the full panoply of military law.

Personally, I'm doubtful about that. Arraignments before Bush's time ends are a pretty transparent attempt to "lock in" the tribunals system for the next President, who would be faced with either going with the current system or arraigning anew and then holding trails that would be even further delayed. Worse, the next President has to know that fair trials will lead to most, if not all, of those charged being released because evidence against them will be tainted by torture allegations. It will be a straight-on contest between doing the right thing and caving in the face of a certain political storm rightwing outrage when "confessed terrorists" walk free. Given their records to date, I've no confidence whatsoever in any of the three deciding to do the right thing.

Give me your hungry, your tired...

From this morning's NYT:

"Word spread quickly inside the windowless walls of the Elizabeth Detention Center, an immigration jail in New Jersey: A detainee had fallen, injured his head and become incoherent. Guards had put him in solitary confinement, and late that night, an ambulance had taken him away more dead than alive.

But outside, for five days, no official notified the family of the detainee, Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old tailor from Guinea who had overstayed a tourist visa. When frantic relatives located him at University Hospital in Newark on Feb. 5, 2007, he was in a coma after emergency surgery for a skull fracture and multiple brain hemorrhages. He died there four months later without ever waking up, leaving family members on two continents trying to find out why.

Mr. Bah’s name is one of 66 on a government list of deaths that occurred in immigration custody from January 2004 to November 2007, when nearly a million people passed through."

Somehow I think this number seems a bit low and it does not account for the level of neglect and abuse that has nearly killed countless immigrants and caused permanent medical problems for many. Let's recall what happened to my cousin:

"To make matters more disheartening, Maryanovsky takes medication for heart arrhythmia and high blood pressure. She confided to her family and friends that prison personnel mockingly refused to give her medication, telling her, "When you have a heart attack, then we'll help you."

One friend, Lauren, who wished to keep her last name private, said that she has visited Maryanovsky twice, and her ankles and extremities are swelling. "[She] can go into heart failure," Lauren told RAW STORY. According to family members, her blood pressure hit 220/110, and the family obtained a doctor's letter to present to immigration authorities, but she was still apparently not being given her medication. Maryanovsky is scheduled soon to be transferred to Krome Detention Center, outside Miami, according to Sedikov."

The NYT article suggests too that this number may not be the whole story:

"The list has few details, and they are often unreliable, but it serves as a rough road map to previously unreported cases like Mr. Bah’s. And it reflects a reality that haunts grieving families like his: the difficulty of getting information about the fate of people taken into immigration custody, even when they die."

 

War Crimes And Fourth Branch Privilege

Posted By Cernig

Rather predictably, Dick Cheney's office is claiming that any and all members of Cheney's staff are immune to Congressional investigation for any and all of their actions - including possible high crimes and misdemeanors. To do this they're creating a hybrid of Cheney's previous claim that he's neither fish nor fowl - neither part of the legislative nor executive arms of government - and yet is covered by executive privilege.

"The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behaviour on the job.

The exception claimed by Cheney's counsel came in response to requests from congressional Democrats that David Addington, the vice-president's chief of staff, testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.

Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney's conduct is "not within the [congressional] committee's power of inquiry".

"Congress lacks the constitutional power to regulate by law what a vice-president communicates in the performance of the vice president's official duties, or what a vice president recommends that a president communicate," Wheelbarger wrote to senior aides on Capitol Hill.

The exception claimed by Cheney's office recalls his attempt last year to evade rules for classified documents by deeming the vice-president's office a hybrid branch of government - both executive and legislative.

The Democratic congressman who is investigating the legal framework for the violent interrogation of terrorist suspects, John Conyers, has asked Addington and several other top Bush administration lawyers to testify. Thus far all have claimed their deliberations are privileged."

This is what comes of the Dems blinking every time the Bush administration has asserted executive privilege and dared them to take such matters to the Supreme Court. The administration has  gambled that no-one had the political will for such a protracted struggle and they've been correct. It's now highly doubtful that Conyers' committee could resolve such a contest before Cheney and the rest leave office. After that, no-one will have the political will to pursue the matter further as a new President and Congress will want to get on with new stuff, not be tied down by old.

And so there will be no comeback, no justice for these war criminals, forthcoming from the U.S. system. Unless, and this is my fervent hope, a Dem President and Congress finally ratifies Bill Clinton's wish that America join the International Court. Then when that court investigates and applies for extradition of Bush, Cheney and the rest, the sitting president can  step aside, talking highly about "respect for the due process of law", and let others clean the filth of the Bush Torture Years from America's historical record.

Amnesty International Unveils Waterboarding Commercial...

Amnesty International's new campaign against torture is making a debut in British theaters as a commercial for a series of short online films depicting real torture tactics. The detainees in the films are fictional, but the torture methods are real and accurate. This is done to inform the public on what simulated drowning is, otherwise called waterboarding. It begins in a very stylized way, but it becomes rather graphic towards the end. So proceed at your own risk-type thing. Onwards...

US Special Forces Doused Detainees with cold water and sent them out into freezing cold to die...

Again, from the ACLU - which in these last 7 years has been one of the few organizations to fight for the legacy of this country and its Constitution - I got the following via presser (emphasis mine). The document-links are available at the end of the release:

Newly Released Government Documents Show Special Forces Used Illegal Interrogation Techniques In Afghanistan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666 or (646) 785-1894; media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union obtained documents today from the Department of Defense confirming the military’s use of unlawful interrogation methods on detainees held in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. The documents from the military’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), obtained as a result of the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, include the first on-the-ground reports of torture in Gardez, Afghanistan to be publicly released.

“These documents make it clear that the military was using unlawful interrogation techniques in Afghanistan,” said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU. “Rather than putting a stop to these systemic abuses, senior officials appear to have turned a blind eye to them.”

Special Operations officers in Gardez admitted to using what are known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) techniques, which for decades American service members experienced as training to prepare for the brutal treatment they might face if captured.

Today’s documents reveal charges that Special Forces beat, burned, and doused eight prisoners with cold water before sending them into freezing weather conditions. One of the eight prisoners, Jamal Naseer, died in U.S. custody in March 2003. In late 2004, the military opened a criminal investigation into charges of torture at Gardez. Despite numerous witness statements describing the evidence of torture, the military’s investigation concluded that the charges of torture were unsupported. It also concluded that Naseer’s death was the result of a “stomach ailment,” even though no autopsy had been conducted in his case. Documents uncovered today also refer to sodomy committed by prison guards; the victims’ identities are redacted.

“These documents raise serious questions about the adequacy of the military’s investigations into prisoner abuse,” added Singh.

The ACLU also obtained today a file today related to the death of Muhammad Al Kanan, a prisoner held at Camp Bucca in Iraq. The file reveals that British doctors refused to issue a death certificate for fear of being sued for malpractice:
www.aclu.org/pdfs/safefree/20080416/CID_ROI_Bucca.pdf

In October 2003, the ACLU – along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, and Veterans for Peace – filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for records concerning the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad. To date, more than 100,000 pages of government documents have been released in response to the ACLU's FOIA lawsuit.

Attorneys in the FOIA case are Lawrence S. Lustberg and Melanca D. Clark of the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, P.C.; Jameel Jaffer, Singh and Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Arthur Eisenberg and Beth Haroules of the New York Civil Liberties Union; and Shayana Kadidal and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

In addition, many of the FOIA documents are also located and summarized in a recently published book by Jaffer and Singh, Administration of Torture. More information is available online at:
www.aclu.org/administrationoftorture

The documents received in the ACLU’s FOIA litigation are online at:
www.aclu.org/torturefoia

All of today’s documents are available at:
www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/34922res20080416.html              

Just remember, the people directly responsible for these horrors and so many others known and still unknown are the following:

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington, George Tenent, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, General Geoffrey Miller, General William Boykin, Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, Contractors from Titan, and CACI.

At every opportunity list the people responsible for these crimes so that their names become synonymous with the atrocities they are responsible for.

The Liberty City Seven: Mistrial

Apparently Alberto Gonzales - the former US Attorney General (who will hopefully someday soon be standing with John Yoo at the Hague) - did not think anyone would notice his hyped up terra arrests before the elections or before important anti-civil liberties measures were to be passed by the Bush cabal.  But as with all of the cases that Gonzo helped push and his underlings helped deliver (with the exception of Jose Padilla), the case of the Miami six, does not hold up in court as today's mistrial has demonstrated. Remember, all six men were whisked into harsh detention and their arrest so hyped up in the media that the government's case should have been a slam dunk, right? Wrong!

"MIAMI, April 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge declared a mistrial on Wednesday for six men accused of joining forces with al Qaeda to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago as part of an Islamic jihad against the United States.

The decision was a setback for U.S. prosecutors. It was the second mistrial declared by District Court Judge Joan Lenard in the case involving the men from Miami's impoverished Liberty City neighborhood."

Shall we wager that the DOJ will now target Judge Lenard, the way they have with other judges not to their liking (Teel, Whitfield, Diaz, etc.)? Any bets?

"U.S. authorities had billed the arrest of the men as a breakthrough in their efforts to detect and smash home-grown terrorism plots in their earliest stages, and said the defendants conspired to bomb America's tallest skyscraper, the Sears Tower, the FBI's Miami office and other federal buildings."

The operative word here is "billed."

"But after 13 days of deliberations, and three notes from the jury members to the judge saying they were unable to reach a verdict, Lenard declared a mistrial.

The defendants were filmed swearing an oath of allegiance to Osama bin Laden's militant al Qaeda group, but their lawyers argued that they were only playing along in the hope of getting money out of a man claiming to have links to al Qaeda but who was actually an FBI informant."

Entrapment anyone?

"Lenard scheduled a status conference for next Wednesday to decide whether there will be another trial for the men, who faced four terrorism-related conspiracy charges that carried a combined maximum of 70 years in prison.

The first trial in the so-called "Liberty City Seven" case ended in a mistrial in December when jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict for the same six defendants. A seventh man won acquittal at that trial.

At the time of their arrests in June 2006, federal agents said the men, who operated out of a ramshackle warehouse in Liberty City, had terrorist plans that were "aspirational rather than operational" because they had neither al Qaeda contacts nor the means of carrying out actual attacks."

Thought crime, oh my.

"Nevertheless, the arrests were presented as a major blow against terrorism. U.S. officials denied there was any political link between the Miami case and the midterm U.S. congressional election in November 2006."

They can deny it all they want to, the evidence - or lack there of - speaks for itself. Think about this, would you put so much effort in "billing" a case entirely based on a trap you set where the crime to be committed was one of "aspiration?"

Died hanging from wrists and gagged, with over 25 rib fractures

Posted by Kathy

I want to bring to your attention an important blog entry by bewart. Keep in mind the recent revelations that George W. Bush authorized the use of torture. See Larisa's post here:

This is my first of a series of diaries about prisoners murdered by US forces. It will tell the story of an Iraqi man who died hanging by his cuffed wrists from a door frame, gagged, and beaten to death by his US interrogators. As the Final Autopsy Report noted:

The remains are received clad in a white shirt, white pajama type pants, and white undershorts. Feces covers the clothing from the waist down....There is gauze dressing on the left wrist. No other evidence of medical intervention is noted.... The right chest wall has fractures of ribs three through seven anteriorly and ribs six through twelve posteriorly. The left chest wall has fractures of ribs two through nine anteriorly and ribs seven through twelve posteriorly. There are fractures of the lateral aspect of ribs nine and ten on the left side. There is a horizontal fracture through the mid-portion of the body of the sternum.

Yes, our tax dollars are paying for this. Hung up by the wrists and beaten so badly that he not only had over 25 separate rib fractures, many slicing into his lungs, he also had a fractured sternum. The thick, solid bone protecting your heart.

From the Final Autopsy Report:

Circumstances of Death: Iraqi detainee died while in U.S. custody.

Authorization for Autopsy: Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, lAW 10 USC 1471

Identification: Identification by accompanying paperwork and wristband, both of which include his name and a detainee number, 3ACR1582

CAUSE OF DEATH: Blunt Force. Injuries and Asphyxia

MANNER OF DEATH: Homicide

FINAL AUTOPSY DIAGNOSES:
I. Multiple Blunt Force Injuries
A. Cutaneous abrasions and contusions of the scalp, torso, and extremities
B. Deep contusions of the chest wall musculature and abdominal wall
C. Multiple, bilateral, displaced and comminuted rib fractures, with lacerations of the pleura.
D. Bilateral lung contusions
E. Bilateral hemothoraces
F. Hemorrhage into the mesentery of the small and large bowel
G. Hemorrhage into the left sternohyoid muscle with associated fractures of the thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone
II. History of Asphyxia, Secondary to Occlusion of the Oral Airway
III. Pleural and Pulmonary Adhesions
IV. Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease
A. Hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart (2.0-centimeters)
B. Cardiomegaly (450-grams)
V. Enlarged, Nodular Prostate Gland
VI. Toxicology is negative for ethanol, drugs of abuse, select therapeutic
medications, and cyanide

OPINION

This 47-year-old White male, , died of blunt force injuries and asphyxia. The autopsy disclosed multiple blunt force injuries,including deep contusions of the chest wall, numerous displaced rib fractures, lung contusions, and hemorrhage into the mesentery of the small and large intestine. An examination of the neck structures revealed hemorrhage into the strap muscles and fractures of the thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone. According to the investigative report provided by U.S. Army CID, the decedent was shackled to the top of a doorframe with a gag in his mouth at the time he lost consciousness and became pulseless.

The severe blunt force injuries, the hanging position, and the obstruction of the oral cavity with a gag contributed to this individual's death. The manner of death is homicide."

##
Much more at the ACLU

Your Legacy Mr. President - Chapter One: War Crimes

Bush has said continuously that it is not us who should judge him, but history.

"The true history of my administration will be written 50 years from now, and you and I will not be around to see it."

Neither Bush or anyone else has to wait for the judgment of tomorrow.  One of the most notorious chapters of the Bush reign, if not THE  most notorious, is the order given by Bush and carried out by his loyalists to torment, torture, and nearly kill prisoners of war in violation of Geneva conventions, international law and domestic law.

The crimes committed on his order, in our name, have already been judged in the past, when other, morally bankrupt leaders engaged in extreme human rights abuses.

What this president and his cabal have done will haunt this nation until the end of history. Bush need not, however,  point to some future historian as deciding the legacy of his administration, because we already know now what his legacy will be and what it already is. We now know without doubt the following:

Raw Story: Mississippi Justice: Bush US Attorney targeted my wife, supporters and friends

Republican effort jails largest Democratic donor in Mississippi, helps put ex-RNC chairman in governor's chair

 by Larisa Alexandrovna 

"In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY, a former Mississippi Republican state legislator who was later backed by Democrats to win a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court discusses political prosecutions with Raw Story and the corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice."

<snip>

"Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. was indicted in 2003 on charges relating to his receipt of a loan guarantee from trial lawyer Paul Minor – a personal friend and the largest Democratic donor in Mississippi – to help defray campaign debts. A Bush-appointed US Attorney, Dunnica Lampton, brought charges of bribery against Diaz, Minor and two other Mississippi judges. Diaz was acquitted of all those charges. A jury acquitted Minor of the charges related to Diaz, but was unable to reach a verdict on other charges. Within days of his acquittal, Diaz was indicted for a second time. He was again acquitted.

“Normally, a criminal investigation begins after a crime is committed,” Diaz told me. “Investigators are sent out to gather evidence and a list of suspects is drawn up. Sometimes an investigation is begun after a complaint is made about suspicious activity. In our case neither of these things occurred.”

“In other words,” he continued. “An individual was singled out for examination from the federal government and prosecutors then attempted to make his conduct fit into some criminal statute. This is not how our system of justice is supposed to operate.”'

<snip>

'“After I was indicted and before my trial, my home was also broken into,” Diaz tells RAW STORY. “Our door was kicked in and our documents were rummaged. Televisions, computers and other valuables were not taken, despite the fact that we were out of town for several days and the home was left open by the burglars. We could not figure out a motive for the burglary and reported it to the Biloxi Police Department. The crime was never solved.”'

As previously reported in “The Permanent Republican Majority Part II” in our investigative series, Governor Siegelman’s home was broken into twice during the trial, and his attorney’s office was broken into at least once during the tortuous process of his case.

In another eerie parallel, Mississippi judge John Whitfield, who was tried along with Diaz and Minor, had his office set on fire. The Alabama Republican whistleblower, Dana Jill Simpson – who alleges White House involvement in the Siegelman case – had her home set on fire and her car run off the road after she came forward.

An FBI agent was also reassigned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after he voiced his concerns about the way Lampton was running his investigations. Agent Michael Campbell’s specialty is forensic accounting; so it’s unclear what his role might be at the prison."

<snip>

“Just before our trial, federal prosecutors spoke to Jennifer’s attorney and told him that they were willing to make a deal,” Diaz told me. “They explained that she and I were each facing many years in federal prison and millions of dollars in fines. They told her that it would be a shame if both she and I were convicted because they knew that we had two small children.”

“They said that if she would agree to plead guilty to a single count of tax evasion they would guarantee her that she would serve no time and would pay no fine,” Diaz added. “All she would have to do is fully cooperate with investigators by telling them everything she knows and to truthfully testify if they called her to the stand. Not being able to risk the loss of our children, Jennifer accepted this deal.”

Ultimately, Diaz notes, prosecutors did not call Jennifer to testify, as she was not able to add anything to their case.

Diaz’s prosecutions – and those of the largest state Democratic donor and other Democrat- supported judges also seem to be part of a larger pattern to use flimsy criminal indictments for political gain.

Diaz was indicted three months prior the Mississippi’s gubernatorial elections. Because he’d been appointment by the incumbent Democratic governor, Republicans used his name as part of a smear campaign to bolster their candidate, Haley Barbour.

Barbour was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997.

“The indictment was used prominently in the Republican campaign,” Diaz said. “The Haley Barbour campaign used the indictments of Paul Minor and me to taint Governor Musgrove. Minor had been one of Musgrove's largest contributors, and I was his appointee to the Supreme Court.